Morph Panel

Location: Tools page > HyperMorph module

Settings made on one subpanel are not lost if you switch subpanels, but may be lost if you return out of the panel.

Common buttons found in many of the Morph subpanels include undo, redo, undo all, and redo all. Use these buttons to move forward or backward through the morphs that you have applied to your model. They remain active when you leave the panel but are not saved with your model unless you select the save morphs with file checkbox in the global subpanel of the Morph Options panel. Thus you could either perform an undo all before saving your model in order to return it to the unmorphed state, or select the save morphs with file checkbox to save all of the morphs on the undo/redo list along with the file so that they can be undone when the file is reloaded. You can also clear or compress the morphs stored in the undo/redo list in the global subpanel of the Morph Options panel.

Many subpanels of the Morph panel contain a button labeled options. This button replaces the symmetry links and constraints checkboxes from earlier versions of HyperMorph. Clicking this button will take you to the Morph Options panel where you are able to adjust a large number of parameters that affect morphing.

Move Handles Subpanel

Use the Move Handles subpanel to move handles and morph a mesh.

In the morph options panel, morphing subpanel, there is an option for setting the minimum step size for interactive morphing. If the distance or angle fields are set to values other than zero the morphing will be performed in discrete steps with the given step size rather than an arbitrary value based on the position of the mouse and relative to the size of the model. For example, setting the distance to 1.0 means that all interactive translation will be performed in increments of 1.0, such as 1.0, 2.0, 11.0, and so on. For distance, the value is given in model units. For angle, the value is given in degrees.

If the morphing is too slow, change from real time to on release (morphing will occur when you release the mouse button).

If you select more than one handle before selecting morph, those handles will follow the handle that you are dragging.

If you have enabled fea results, an FEA solution will be performed in real time or on release depending on the selected setting in the morph options panel.

If you have any reflective symmetries (1-plane, 2-plane, 3-plane, and cyclical) in the model, the movements of any handles attached to the domains assigned to those symmetries will automatically be reflected to all linked handles.

Option	Action
movement type	Choose type of movement for the selected handles. interactive Drag handles across the screen using the mouse. Figure 1. Interactive Morphing (Set to Screen) using the On Plane Option translate Apply a perturbation to selected handles. If you select more than one handle before clicking morph, those handles will have the same perturbation applied to them, except when using the along normal option. Figure 2. Morphing Using Translate. A bead is created by moving the handles at the ends of the edge domain (highlighted) in the positive z direction. rotate Apply a rotation to selected handles. Some areas of your model (most notably curved edges) may end up distorted or out of plane after handles are rotated. To alleviate this problem, you should undo the rotation and add handles in the areas of the model that are becoming distorted or are not rotating properly. To completely eliminate the distortion of edge domains during rotation, you can add a handle at every node of the edge domain using the handles on edge command in the edit edges subpanel of the Domains panel. If you wish to do a simple rigid body rotation and this panel is unable to accomplish it, try using the Record subpanel in the Freehand panel. That tool allows you to morph using any panel. In this case, you would click start (in the record subpanel), go to the Rotate panel, rotate your mesh, return to the Freehand panel, record subpanel, and click finish. This will convert your rotation into a morph and can be undone, redone, and saved as part of a shape. scale Scale selected handles relative to a node. Figure 3. Morphing Using Scale. A morph volume face is enlarged by 20% relative to the center of the face. move to XYZ Select a handle and move it to the specified XYZ coordinates. move to node Select a handle and move it to a position where a node is currently located. Use this feature to move handles to lines or surfaces since HyperWorks allows you to create nodes on the fly. Instead of selecting a node, hold down the mouse button when selecting a line or surface, then click the line or surface where you want the node. The node is created and the handle moves to the new position. Figure 4. Morphing Using Move to Node. A handle is selected (white) followed by a node (gray). The handle moves to the position of the node and the mesh morphs accordingly. The target node also moves with the mesh, to a new location. move to point Select a handle and move it to a position where a point is currently located. project to line Project selected handles to a line. project to plane Project selected handles to a plane. project to surf Project selected handles to a surface. project to mesh Project selected handles to a mesh.
on/along what	Choose where the movement is allowed to take place, including in what directions. manipulator (default) Create an interactive "triad" which can be translated and rotated by clicking parts of it and dragging the mouse. The translations and rotations of the triad are then applied to the selected handles, domains, or morph volumes, thus morphing the mesh in real time. If you choose manipulator, switch the entity selector to select handles, domains, morph volumes, morph volume edges, or morph volume faces. When you select one or more entities, a triad manipulator will appear on the screen at the center of those entities. Click and drag one of the three arrows of the manipulator to translate the entities, click and drag one of the three arcs of the manipulator to rotate the entities about the center of the manipulator, or click and drag one of the three right angles of the manipulator to move the entities in a plane. You may also select or unselect entities while the manipulator is active, changing which entities are affected by the manipulator. If no entities are selected, the manipulator will disappear. Figure 5. Triad Manipulator. Triad manipulator and where to click on it to translate it along a vector, rotate it about an axis, or translate it in a plane. The position of the manipulator will be set at the center of the selected entities unless an origin node has been specified, in which case the manipulator will remain at the specified node until the manipulator is moved. Selecting new entities will update the position of the manipulator unless an origin node is specified. Selecting or updating an origin node will reposition the manipulator at the new node without morphing the model. An origin node is helpful when you wish to rotate entities about a given point. The orientation of the manipulator will be aligned with the global axes by default. You may update the orientation of the manipulator to be aligned with a local coordinate system or to a specified vector or plane by using the toggles and selectors below the manipulator selector. Reorienting the manipulator in this way will not morph the model. When rotating the manipulator, the options constant rotation and linear rotation are available as well as the true rotation option. If constant is selected, all handles will be rotated about the axis equally relative to the manipulator. If linear is selected, all handles will be given a rotation proportional to the distance that they are from the origin of the manipulator as measured along the axis of rotation. The handle farthest from the origin of the manipulator is rotated the full amount and the others are rotated according to the ratio of their distance to the origin compared to the distance of the handle farthest from the origin. Clear the true rotation checkbox if you only wish to rotate the handles, with the mesh morphed linearly according to their new locations. When selected, true rotation rotates both the nodes and the handles with the amount of rotation for the nodes being proportional to the amount of influence of the handles over those nodes. You may create more than one manipulator at a time by switching the toggle between single manipulator and multiple. When switched to multiple, clicking new manip will allow you to create a new manipulator by selecting another entity. The different manipulators may have different parameters and can be moved independently of one another. Moving a manipulator, clicking a manipulator, or simply moving the mouse over one of the manipulators will cause the panel to be updated to parameters for that manipulator, allowing you to change the parameters or the entities associated with them if you desire. The manipulators can be set to be active or inactive by switching the toggle to either manip:active or manip:inactive. When active the manipulators will morph the model when moved. When inactive the manipulators will only change their own position and orientation when moved. For manipulators, "on release" features such as the large domain solver will not be invoked until the mouse is moved out of the modeling window, enabling you to make multiple perturbations of the manipulator without delay. The exception to this rule is if auto quality checking or interactive fea are currently active, in which case the "on release" features will be invoked when you release the mouse. domains Create a surface out of the elements on the domains to which the selected handle is attached. This option can only be used for handles that are attached to 2D domains. off domains Move the handle off the neighboring domains with its position being calculated roughly perpendicular to the plane of those domains. along xyz or along vector Specify a direction along which the interactively selected handle will move. Note: For cylindrical and spherical systems, select use system for nodes to move influenced nodes relative to the local system instead of following the handles. along line, on plane, or on surface Specify the line, plane or surface along which the interactively selected handle will move. Note: For the on plane option you do not need to select a base point for the plane if you select use handle for base. Also for the on plane option you may change the toggle to infer from handles which will automatically determine a plane that runs roughly through the selected handles. For best results select three or more handles which lie roughly in a plane. along normal Select elements whose normals you wish to use. The selected handles must lie on the selected elements. Note: All handles selected will move along normals calculated for the selected elements which they are touching and may move in different directions than other handles. along mvol edges Select the morph volume edges along which you wish the handles to move. You may select multiple groups of edges provided that each group connects end to end and intersects with at least one of the selected handles. HyperMorph will extend the ends of the edges approximately one morph volume length beyond the end to allow you to move handles past the end of their morph volumes. scale Select the scaling factors in the x, y, and z directions as well as the system used to define those directions. Use the toggle to specify the origin for scaling either by selecting a node or by using the average position of all of the selected handles. Clicking uniform allows you to update the x, y, and z scaling factors simultaneously.
along mvol edges	When morphing along mvol edges, use this selector to pick the desired edges.
along vector: plane and vector selector	Define or select the vector along which to morph. Note: Available for translate, project to line, project to surf, and project to mesh morphs.
angle =	When rotating handles, specify the number of degrees to rotate by.
avg for origin / origin =	When morphing by scale, choose between using the average of the selected handles' coordinates for the origin or select a specific node as the origin. If using the avg for origin option you must select more than one handle to morph.
constant/linear	constant Rotate all handles about the axis by the given angle. linear Give all handles a rotation proportional to the distance that they are from the base node as measured along the axis of rotation. The handle farthest from the base node is rotated the full amount and the others are rotated according to the ratio of their distance to the base node compared to the distance of the handle farthest from the base node. Note: Available when rotating handles.
handles	Select the handles you wish to move. Moving handles morphs the mesh of their dependent nodes.
line	When morphing along line, use this selector to select the desired line.
node	When morphing by move to node, use this selector to select the node that you wish to move the selected handle(s) to.
normal to geom	Set the projection direction normal to the target geometry (line list, surfs, or elems). Note: Available for project to line, project to surf, and project to mesh morphs.
normal to elems: all 2D elems / elems	Set the projection direction normal to elements touching the handles, or normal to specific elements that you select via the elems selector. Note: Available for project to line, project to surf, and project to mesh morphs.
on plane: plane and vector selector / infer from handles	Choose how to define the plane. on plane: plane and vector selector Define the plane. You do not need to specify the base node if the use handle for base checkbox is selected. infer from handles Automatically determine a plane that runs roughly through the selected handles. For best results select three or more handles which lie roughly in a plane.
options	Open the Morph Options panel.
point	When morphing by move to point, use this selector to select the geometric point that you wish to move the selected handle(s) to.
project to plane	When projecting to a plane, choose a method for determining the position and orientation of the plane. Each option also requires a base node (B node collector). x-axis, y-axis, z-axis Refer to the default global coordinate system. vector Select an existing vector entity. N1, N2, N3 Define the plane's normal vector by using two nodes (N1 and N2) or by using all three nodes via the right-hand rule. The base node is used to position the plane.
project to plane	When projecting to a plane, choose a method for determining the direction to project. normal to geom Project the handles along the plane normal. normal to elems Project the handles along the normals of the elements to which the handles are attached. N1, N2, N3 Define a vector. Use N1 and N2 to define a vector with two points and use N1, N2, and N3 to define a vector using the right hand rule. x-axis, y-axis, z-axis Refer to the default global coordinate system.
real time / on release	real time Morphing occurs while you move the handles. on release Morphing only occurs once you release the mouse button. Note: Only available for interactive morphing.
rotation axis	When rotating handles, use the plane and vector selector to define a vector. This vector (at the base node) is the axis of rotation, and its positive direction is determined via the right-hand rule.
surf	When morphing on surface, use this selector to select the desired surface.
system =	Specify a local coordinate system for the translation or scaling dimensions, otherwise the default global system is used. Note: Available when on/along what is set to along xyz or scale.
true rotation	Clear this checkbox to rotate the handles, with the mesh morphed linearly according to their new locations (left image, following). When selected, true rotation rotates both the nodes and the handles, with the amount of rotation for the nodes being proportional to the amount of influence of the handles over those nodes. (right image, following). Figure 6. This sequence shows the difference between normal rotation (left) and true rotation (right). Notice how true rotation causes straight edges to curve. This is because each node is being rotated about the selected axis rather than moved linearly.
x scale, y scale, z scale	Specify the magnitude/distance in each axis for the scaling, in model units. Note: Available when on/along what is sets to scale.
x value, y value, z value	Specify the distance in each axis for the translation, in model units Note: Available when on/along what is sets to move to xyz.
uniform	When morphing by scale, set all of the X, Y, and Z values to the same number. A pop-up allows you to specify the desired number, and displays the average of the three existing values by default.
use all elems / elems	When morphing along normal, choose the direction as the average of all involved elements' normals, or to select specific elems.
use system for nodes	Move influenced nodes relative to the local system instead of following the handles. Note: Available when on/along what is set to translate or scale.

Alter Dimensions Subpanel

Use the Alter Dimensions subpanel to morph your mesh by selecting a dimension in the model and changing its values.

There are five dimensional types that can be altered: distance, angle, radius, curvature, and arc angle.

For distance and angle, you define the dimensions by selecting domains, nodes and/or handles that will be used to alter the dimension.

If you have any reflective symmetries (1-plane, 2-plane, 3-plane, and cyclical) in the model, the changes applied to any domains assigned to those symmetries will automatically be reflected to all linked domains.

Figure 7 shows morphing by altering a distance using two handles. Handles a and b are selected, and the distance d between them is calculated and displays in the distance= field. By changing this value and clicking morph, the distance between the handles can be set to a new value.

Figure 7.

Figure 8 shows morphing by altering a distance using the nodes and handles option. The green circle marks end a and the blue circle marks end b. The original distance "d" is 23. Three handles are selected as followers for end a and two are selected as followers for end b (upper left picture). The distance is changed to 15 and the morph button is clicked. If hold end a is selected, the handles move in such a way such that only node b will move to make the new distance 15 (upper right picture). You can also choose hold end b (lower left picture) or hold center (lower right picture).

Figure 8.

Figure 9 shows morphing by altering an angle using the nodes and handles option. The green circle marks end a, the red circle marks end b, and the blue circle marks the angle vertex (left). The original angle "theta" is 90 degrees. One handle is selected for each end. In this case since the handles are coincident with the nodes at end a and end b, the two handles or edge domains options could have been used instead. The value in the angle window is changed to 45 degrees, the hold middle option is selected, and the morph button is clicked. The handles are moved in such a way that the new angle between the selected nodes becomes 45 degrees. Alter angle also has the hold end a and hold end b options.

Note: If the red and green nodes do not have coincident follower handles, HyperWorks iterates until the angle is either within one one-thousandth of a degree of the target or it has converged as close as possible.

Figure 9.

Radius, curvature, and arc angle allow you to select one or more edge domains (and any associated 2D domains) and adjust their radius, curvature, or arc angle. Radius and arc angle are intended to be used with domains of constant curvature. Curvature is intended to be used with domains of changing curvature or with multiple domains with different radii. Curvature will change the radius along the length of the curve by multiplying it by the given ratio. The hold options for radius and curvature determine whether the ends move towards or away from the center (hold center), tangentially (fillet), stay fixed (hold ends), or move towards one end (hold end). For the hold end option you should select all of the nodes for the held end or ends.

Figure 10 shows morphing by radius using the fillet option and the options by edges and auto-symmetry. The two edge domains are selected and both have a radius of 5. The radius is changed to 3 and the morph button is clicked. The ends of the edge move tangentially to keep the angle constant. This option is very useful for changing fillets. The radius change of the 2D domain is not as smooth as the radius change for the edge domains. To better change the radii of the 2D domain for this example the center calculation method should be switched to by normals and the 2D domain should be selected along with the two edge domains. If the result is not accurate enough, which can often be the case when the mesh is not perfectly curved, try creating a line through the center of curvature and using the by line option.

Note: For the by line option, the line will only be at the center of curvature for the first morph unless you are using the hold center option.

Figure 10.

Figure 11 shows morphing by radius using the hold ends option. The two edge domains are selected and both have a radius of 5. The radius is changed to 10 and the morph button is clicked. The ends of the edge do not move and the angle is forced to change.

Figure 11.

Figure 12 shows morphing by radius using the hold center option. The edge domain is selected which has a radius of 20. The radius is changed to 10 and the morph button is clicked. The center of the domain does not move and the radius is changed.

Figure 12.

Figure 13 shows morphing by radius using the hold end option. Two edge domains and the 2D domain are selected with the edge domains having a radius of 5. The nodes on the lower edge of the 2D domain are selected to mark the held end. The radius is changed to 3 and the morph button is clicked. The domains are altered in such a way that the radius is changed and the selected end is held.

Figure 13.

Set Biasing Subpanel

Use the Set Biasing subpanel to change the biasing factors associated with each handle. You must click update to apply bias changes to the handles, unless you update them interactively.

Clicking screen edit will display edit windows for the bias factors if they are not displayed or hide the edit windows for the bias factors if they are displayed.

The initial bias factor for all handles is 1 except for dependent handles automatically generated at the ends of 1D domains which are given a bias factor of 3. Higher bias values will increase the influence that handle has over nearby nodes. Lower bias values decrease the influence. Bias values of 1 give linear results that result in morphs with sharp angles at the handle locations.

For exponential biasing a bias value of 2 will result in morphs with a gentle curvature through the handle locations. Using bias factors of 1 at the corners of a model and 2 everywhere else will generally give a smoothly morphed model.

For sinusoidal biasing a bias value of 2.0 for a handle at one end of an edge domain and 0.5 for a handle at the other end will give a perfect circular or elliptical curve for the domain. For values of 3.0 and higher the influences will obey a sine-cosine curve with a frequency equal to one-half cycle plus one for each full step above 3.0 (that is 4.0 gives a frequency of one and one half cycles, 5.0 gives two and a half, and so on). Values between 2.0 and 3.0, or 3.0 and 4.0, or 4.0 and 5.0, and so on, blend the influences of a full sine-cosine curve at the higher value with that of a linear curve. In other words, a bias factor of 4.7 will give influences that are 70% of what they would be for a biasing factor of 5.0 and 30% of what they would be if they were linear.

Figure 14 shows how exponential bias factors affect morphing. The model is a flat plate where the mid-edge handle has been perturbed out of plane. The picture at the top left shows the morph with the bias values for all the handles set to the default of 1. The picture at the top right shows the same morph with the bias value for the mid-edge handle set to 2 and the bias values for all the other handles set to 1. The picture at the lower left shows the same morph with the bias values for all the handles set to 2. The picture at the lower right shows the same morph with the bias value for the mid-edge handle set to 0.5. The bias values for all the other handles set to 1.

Figure 14.

Figure 15 shows how sinusoidal bias factors affect morphing. The model is a flat plate where a corner handle has been perturbed out of plane. The picture at the top left shows the morph with the bias values for all the handles set to the default of 1.

Note: For both sinusoidal and exponential biasing, having biasing factors of 1 for the handles gives the same linear influences.

The top-right picture shows the same morph with the bias value for the perturbed handle set to 2 and the bias value for all the other handles set to 0.5; the result is a perfect ellipse. The lower left picture shows the same morph with the bias values for all the handles set to 3; the result is a perfect sine-cosine curve for one-half cycle. The lower right picture shows the same morph with the bias value for the all the handles set to 4.0; the result is a perfect sine-cosine curve for one and a half cycles. If all of the handles are set to bias values of 3.5, the result would look half way in between the pictures shown at the top left and lower right.

Figure 15.

Option	Action
bias =	type in Change the bias value and click update. screen edit Click screen edit to display numbers over each selected handle. Click a number, hold the mouse button down, and drag the cursor up and down to change the values. Click update. interactive Click the desired handle, hold the mouse button down, and drag the mouse to adjust the biasing.
biasing style: exponential / sinusoidal	Set the biasing style to apply.
handles	Select the handles for which you wish to apply biasing.
make retroactive	Adjust the morphs currently applied to the model to reflect the new biasing factors.
options	Open the morph options panel.

Command Buttons